I hadn't seen Ihsanul since he was transferred from Goldman's SLC to office to New Jersey. But I was lucky enough to find myself on the east coast in time for his wedding, or Walima, as it were. Though it were a six hour drive from Charlottesville to N.J., I relished the opportunity to see more of this east coast, and cross even more items of my life's to-do list.
As per the Bengali custom, the groom, or his closest friends from what I understand, are due to bargain with the bridesmaids before the groom can enter the Walima banquet hall. Don't confuse this bargaining as a sort of dowry that the groom owes the bride's family, but rather this is a penalty that the groom has to pay to the bridesmaids. I, on a strict responsibility to document the event for my Goldman peeps back at home, stood at the entry way with camera in hand, prepared to catch Ihsanul in an embarrassing bargaining session prior to entry.
It may seem cute, but these bridesmaids were going to demand nothing short of $5,000 USD (not to be confused with 5,000 Bengali Taka...). Ihsanul was to be held mercilessly as a penalty for taking their dear Lamia away from them.
At this moment, I heard a slight "pssst..." and a "... hey, Tom..." coming from behind me. As I was likely the only "Tom" in the building (actually, I'm certain "Tom" was the only anglo-saxon-non-south-asian name in the building, and it happened to belong to me) I turned to find a wide-eyed Ihsanul peaking around the kitchen door wearing a long Bengali tunic and a green army surplus jungle hat, with a desperate look exclaiming "help me!"
The thought occurred to me, as I made myself "large" to shield Ihsanul covertly into the banquet hall, that I've certainly come along way in life, to find myself in a schemed maneuver to assist a friend get married at a Muslim Walima in New Jersey, of all places...
I took great pleasure to see the stubborn bridesmaids still waiting at the door as Ihsanul sat on the wedding throne behind their backs.
Ihsanul is a great guy, the wedding was out-of-this-world, and I had an excellent time.
* * * * *
philadelphia
* * * * *
princeton
* * * * *
monmouth junction
Seinen heiligen Arm hat der Herr entblößt vor den Augen aller Nationen,
und alle Enden der Erde sehen die Errettung, die von unserem Gott ist.
2 comments:
Your pictures are always really fun to look at. You are really good. Take care~ MJ
Hey, I am sorry I just read this because I found it fascinating. Love the pictures as usual. Already miss not having you around so I can keep putting off seeing Tron the next week. Hope school is going well.
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